Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Personality Disorders

A personality disorder is basically a mental disorder that is often characterized by distinct maladaptive behavioral patterns, displayed by the individual suffering from the disorder. The broader term- personality disorders, is used to refer to a class of disorders, some of which may be more severe than the other milder ones. It is also easier to manage and treat milder personality disorders.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

The narcissistic personality disorder is the condition which causes an individual to appear extremely arrogant. Under this disorder the patient/ individual suffering from it is mainly (in some cases completely) pre-occupied with the extent of his/ her own personal adequacy and well being.

People with the narcissistic disorder are inflated with their own sense of importance and as result they face difficulty in most spheres of life; like relationships, work, and financial affairs etc.

Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Following personality and behavioral traits are all symptoms of the narcissistic personality disorder:

Being conceited, pretentious and generally boastful about one’s own qualities, achievements, and capabilities etc.

Looking down on and frowning upon those whom they think of being inferior to themselves.

Patients suffering from the narcissistic disorder have a sense of entitlement they expect other to fulfill

A person who gets considerably upset, angry and irritated on not receiving the special attention he thinks he deserves may be suffering from this disorder.

An excessive need to have the best of everything, no matter what.

Having trouble handling criticism and perceiving it as major humiliation is a symptom.

Another common symptom of this disorder is that people suffering from it may try to belittle a second person, or may even act with contempt/ rage only to make self feel superior and better.

Causes of Narcissistic Personality Disorder

The exact causes behind the narcissistic personality disorder are not known; which is true for many other mental/ psych related disorders. But there are some prominent causes which have been accepted as probable causes. They are:

A mismatch between the relationships a child shares with his/ her parents may be singled out as a cause of the child developing this disorder. The said mismatch may include excessively pampering the child to give heightened sense of entitlement or even excessive criticism of the child at hands of parents.

Some psychological, psychobiological and genetic anomalies are also considered causes of this disorder.

Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Most ways to treat the disorder center on psychotherapeutic methods and use of certain drugs. An elaboration of the treatment methods follows.

Psychotherapy:

Most of the treatment for this order is centered on this therapy.

With the help of this therapy an individual can learn how to better relate with others and how to handle his relationships based on a broader, more empathetic understanding.

The therapy also includes figuring out the emotional causes that drive the patient’s altered behavior/ moods and working on those emotional outlets.

Since it is difficult to completely change a person’s personality traits, it may take a few years for the therapy to help the individual.

Medications/ Drug Related Treatment

No available medications can completely curb this disorder. However, there are medications which can counter and curb (to an extent) the common symptoms of the disorder. For example, antidepressants and other anti- anxiety medicines/ drugs are found to be helpful.

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